A Hong Kong police officer has been found guilty of unlawfully terminating 10 criminal investigations by using forged statements as proof that the complainants had agreed to withdraw their cases.
The District Court on Wednesday convicted Detective Constable Wong Yiu-chung of forgery and misconduct in public office, finding that the 34-year-old had dishonestly obtained his supervisors’ approval to close the inquiries between November 2022 and July 2023.
The court rejected the defence’s argument that the case files might have been tampered with by third parties, ruling instead that the 10 complainants had no motive to frame the accused.
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The court heard that Wong, who was attached to Sham Shui Po district’s criminal investigation department, had received 23 commendations from regional and district commanders during his 11 years of service before being suspended in August 2023.
The defence also submitted a certificate signed by former assistant police commissioner Rupert Dover to demonstrate Wong’s involvement in Operation Tiderider, the code name for the force’s response to the 2019 anti-government protests.
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Before committing the offences, Wong had reportedly told some supervisors that his present duties were too stressful but was unable to secure a transfer either within the force or to another government department.